Bad Shark...

[CuzzA]

It's hard to tell the sequence of events because we only have the short clip...

But it appears the diver was searching for fish and spotted the shark coming in. I suppose it's feasible that the moment he caught a glimpse of the shark coming at him he could have turned and swam toward it, but I don't know. Not a lot of time to react, especially snorkeling.

To me that looked like a bad shark and it was going to bite something. Fortunately for the diver he put the gun in it's mouth. I didn't see any dead fish on or near him, but again we don't know what happened moments earlier or if there was a stringer of fish hanging on a float.

Nevertheless, the vis was good and surely that shark knew the target wasn't small and taking a chance like that could end up hurting it, which clearly it did.

Bad shark!

Edit: I would add that it doesn't appear that the diver pulled the trigger, instead the shark bit the bands and for all intents and purposes... committed suicide.

 

[frndrfoe]

That shark behavior is fairly normal for Jupiter & West Palm.

That's really normal? Do people not swim from boats there?
Seems like there would be a lot more reports if that was normal.

not trying to be snarky, just attempting to understand how normal.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

dumpsterDiver knows this cause we dive the same reefs.......That shark behavior is fairly normal for Jupiter & West Palm. The mistake that the freediver made is neither he nor his buddy(?) dove down below to "back the shark down". Staying still with an attacking shark just isn't going to work. You have to get aggressive and swim towards the shark to back them down. It's just one shark, wait till you have 4 on you and have to get in a boxing match. That diver waited way too long and he lost control of the situation.

John:

It is hard to say what happened, but I'm not sure i agree with you on this one. I suspect that the diver did not know the shark was on the bottom or he was not worried about it. It was not a very big shark.. maybe 5.5 to 7 feet I would estimate.

The diver has a camera on his head and he is looking down before his dive. IF he was aware of, or worried about the shark, I think it would be likely that he would have used BAD form during the dive, instead he used good freediver form.

More specifically, the diver had his chin tucked on the dive, this is a more hydrodynamic profile and the "proper" form. It does not give the diver good visibility at all about where he is swimming. Look at the camera angle after he starts his dive, he is looking horizontally not vertically - no doubt he had his chin tucked.

All to often, I use poor form and have my neck cranked back and I try to see what is below me and what fish might be there (or if i was worried about sharks i will be looking down) on the dive. Some freedivers will actually just close their eyes and try to calm down, not worry about sharks and try to concentrate on form and efficiency and not be distracted by any visual input until they know they are approaching their target depth.

So this diver was NOT still, he was diving toward the bottom when the shark went into a vertical attack mode and intercepted him during the dive. When they come like that hard and fast and vertical, that is not a good sign. The diver was not still, he spun around and took a more defensive position as soon as he saw the shark approaching.

I suspect that it was luck that the diver happened to be facing the direction the shark was coming from.

When we freedive in the Bahamas, and we see one or two sharks like that, we try to get several people to chase and pursue them as fast as possible. Normally the sharks will leave if they are small, we out number them and there is a not a lot of blood in the water.

Also, it is not that unusual to see a shark, start that vertical "attack" maneuver, but they normally don't accelerate and carry through. They will often break off, when they get within 10 feet. But these are all gross generalities and each situation can be different and sharks are tremendously fast and can be unpredictable. I've only shot 2 sharks while diving and both were while on scuba.

If the diver was unaware that the shark was there before the dive, I can't find any fault or come up with any suggestion that would have been better.. even while having unlimited time to think about it .. rather than the 1-2 seconds the diver actually had.

Kinda funny, because all the tree huggers will tell us that sharks have no interest in us and they don't want to eat us and the attacks are just accidental incidents because the water was dirty and the shark got confused.

 

[undrwater]

...they don't want to eat

Are you suggesting they do? Your post sounded like it might not be serious, but I wanted to check. I thought most evidence suggests that humans are not part of a shark's diet.

 

[CuzzA]

I've had sharks charge up at me while on the surface, but they usually peel off like dumpsterDiver said. With fish on me they usually hang around and keep getting closer with each charge. Since using a shark shield they usually disappear after the first pass.

I imagine this happens more than divers know, but if you're chatting with your buddy on the surface you'd never know. When I surface from a dive the first thing I do is look for boats and then look right back down to see if anything is coming to eat me.

 

[Hank49]

Sometimes weird **** just happens. I've shot a hundred or more barracuda...some pretty big....and had them swimming around while pulling them in. But once....only once, a smaller one actually charged me....three times. I dodged it twice, then it clipped my knee and drew some blood. ??? I've only had one shark charge me kind of like the one in the video. It came out of nowhere after I shot a yellow jack on the drop off here, free diving. It kept coming in but would veer off about 5 feet away....and finally took off back down deep.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Are you suggesting they do? Your post sounded like it might not be serious, but I wanted to check. I thought most evidence suggests that humans are not part of a shark's diet.

Well if that video doesn't lead you to suspect that the shark was probably going to take a bite of that diver, then I doubt you will be convinced. I know a lot of people who have been attacked, bitten.. I myself have had to fight them off with punches to the face.

 

[CuzzA]

And how many divers every year just... disappear?

 

[Johnoly]

That's really normal?.

It happens ALOT on safety stops and on the surface waiting for a pickup. The shark will come straight up vertical at you{even with no fish} For bulls, it's a territorial thing and we are in their 'yard'. You have to back them down quickly so that all they will do is circle. In WPB it happens on the Princess Anne & the Ande all the time the sharks will go vertical on me.

...So this diver was NOT still, he was diving toward the bottom when the shark went into a vertical attack mode and intercepted him during the dive. When they come like that hard and fast and vertical, that is not a good sign....

You know freediving much better than me. When sharks come vertical on us, we have to get down to them fast and get them to break off. In freediving the buddy is critical. When sharks approach it's a team effort to get on them fast. Maybe just the event sequence & angle, but I didn't see another diver to help if he was breathe'd up.

 

[Moor3061]

I would have been screaming like a banshee when I surfaced, hats off to this diver. I hope he was able to get his gun back...